Author Archives: dcaligari

October 13, 1950 – Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s brilliantly caustic valentine to Broadway, All About Eve premiered in NYC on this date. Margo Channing’s famous cocktail dress was an Edith Head creation. To Head’s horror, just as they were about to go film the cocktail party, she found that the dress didn’t quite fit Bette DavisContinue reading “Fasten your seat belts”

October 13, 1947 –Kids, back when the earth cooled and formed a hard crust, there was a very popular TV series featuring two puppets and a very polite lady that ad-libbed the entire show – Junior Jamboree – a version which ultimately became Kukla, Fran and Ollie premiered on this date. (this is not theContinue reading “OK Bunkies, into the wayback machine”

I totally get him – I feel like murdering everyone after a very long and crowded commute. Happy Columbus Never Met An Indigenous Person He Didn’t Kill or Enslave Day! I can’t even imagine how many more indigenous persons Columbus may have murdered if he didn’t have the day off. Columbus Day originated as aContinue reading “Let’s hear it for Columbus”

The second Sunday in October is designated as Father–Daughters Day today, as opposed to (just) Daughters Day. Once again UN negotiators were called in, and after several tense meetings with some not so high priced ACME lawyers, I have been permitted to use the following photo from Julietta’s graduation this past May I am allowedContinue reading “I nearly forgot”

October 12, 1996 –Though they’ve refused to release it on video for 27 years, largely due to dissatisfaction over their own performance, The Rolling Stones finally release their landmark 1968 all-star BBC television special, The Rolling Stones’ Rock And Roll Circus, on this date. This is Brian Jones’s last live performance with The Rolling Stones.Continue reading “Maybe everyone was just a little too high”

October 12, 1968The second studio album by Big Brother and the Holding Company, Cheap Thrills, reached number one on the charts for eight nonconsecutive weeks on this date. It was their last album with Janis Joplin as lead singer before she started a solo career.

October 12, 1810 – The first Oktoberfest began on this date as a festival celebrating the marriage of Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen and Prince Louis of Bavaria (later King Ludwig I) in Munich, Germany. The festival was such a success, the locals decided to hold it annually. (a great little known fact – Albert Einstein,Continue reading “Remember what we’ve said about Germans and beer halls”

October 12, 1966 –Sammy Davis, Jr. makes a cameo appearance on the ABC-TV series Batman – The Clock King’s Crazy Crimes, during one of their legendary Batclimbs, on this date.

October 12, 1950 –One of the first comedy series to make the successful transition from radio to television The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, premiered on CBS-TV on this date. George Burns is regarded as being the first entertainer to step out of character and “break the fourth wall” by directly addressing the televisionContinue reading “We got to say goodnight to Gracie”

October 12, 1915 – British nurse Edith Cavell, was executed by a German firing squad in Brussels for helping Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during World War I. The night before her execution she told the Anglican chaplain, Rev. Gahan, who had been allowed to see her, ‘Patriotism is not enough, I must haveContinue reading “Edith Cavell”